Tied Between Worlds
by Puppeteered
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple surveillance mission. How was Sasori supposed to know that those things called emotions he'd thrown away would come back at the worst time?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

First time writing fanfiction, I'd absolutely love reviews :)

Sasori flexed the fingers on his new body, getting used to the feel of it. Moving his core from one puppet body to another wasn't something he liked to do regularly, and this particular body was much smaller than his usual one.

He felt unarmed without his usual attachments, but the ones he had would have to do. After all, it was just a surveillance mission.

The body was that of a chunin from the Stone Village that he and Deidara had captured a couple of weeks ago. Normally such a weak ninja wouldn't have been worthy of immortalisation in puppet form, but in this case Sasori was forced to make an exception. It was orders from Pain himself, and Sasori wasn't stupid enough to argue with the leader of their organisation over a subject such as art.

Some people understood it, and some people just didn't.

Surveillance mission or not, the helplessness of his current body annoyed him. The chunin had known some simple Earth-style techniques, but nothing that would be very helpful if he was exposed while in the Leaf.

The same went for the attachments Sasori has installed – he'd only been given limited time to work on the puppet, so a couple of hidden blades and smoke bombs were all he really had. After all, you couldn't rush true art.

Deidara landed the bird they were flying on a fair distance away from the village, as to avoid detection. "Sasori, my man!" Deidara grinned mockingly at him. "I'm liking the new look, un."

Sasori frowned menacingly back at him, or at least as menacingly as was possible in his current form. He had at least made an effort to find a body that resembled his younger self – red spiky hair, light skin – but he still felt absolutely ridiculous.

"Silence," he hissed. "Even a puppet like this is still better than your pathetic excuse for art."

Deidara sniggered, obviously still not able to take Sasori seriously as he was. Annoyed, Sasori decided to ignore him and started walking off toward the village.

"Bring me back a souvenir, un!" Deidara cried out as he lifted off the ground on his clay bird.

Sasori kept walking, not even turning back to acknowledge his moron of a partner. Surveillance? Who did the Akatsuki think he was? Once he got back he was going to have to ensure that the rest of those barbarians realised that this was Sasori of the Red Sand they were dealing with. However, that would have to wait.

As he approached the gates, he got stopped for a routine check. "Name?" grunted the ninja at the gate.

"Sasori, from the Hidden Stone Village," he said. He didn't bother trying to come up with a fake name – it would have taken too much effort to remember. Anyway, there was no possible way anyone would make the connection. "I'm here to visit my uncle."

The leaf ninja nodded. "Alright, I'm going to have to search your stuff," he said, indicating the bags that Sasori was holding. Obligingly, he passed them over. It wasn't like he was going to find anything of interest. He took the opportunity to look around the area.

As far as he could see, there were two main guards doing searches on the way into the village, as well as a third keeping watch. The area appeared to be mostly civilians, apart from a group of ninjas leaving the village that appeared about chunin age.

One wore a leather jacket and was riding a giant dog as if it were a horse. Another had the ridiculous goggles and almost completely concealing that Sasori knew marked him as an Aburame, a clan which had given him and his old comrades back at the Sand far too much trouble in the past.

But it was the third that really caught his attention.

She was incredibly pretty, with long blue hair that hung down below her shoulders. Even with the conservative outfit she was wearing, Sasori could tell she had a quite attractive figure. The kid with the oversized dog said something to the group, and when the girl smiled in response Sasori's heart (well, core) nearly skipped a beat. She was perfect…

"Hey, kid? Kid?" The leaf ninja's voice brought Sasori back to the real world. Honestly, what was he thinking? He was Sasori of the Red Sand. He had given up all his emotions long ago. But still… No. He refused to think about it anymore.

"Thank you," he smiled with fake politeness to the ninja as he took his stuff. He needed to shake these ridiculous thoughts from his head. After all, he had a mission to fulfil.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

_Sasori huffed with exhaustion, drawing a kunai from his belt and holding it awkwardly in front of him. He wasn't used to close quarters combat, but now the Black Ant had been destroyed he didn't really have a choice._

_"You've done well to hold your own so far," he swaggered, trying not to let his enemy get into his head. Over the course of the war the Puppet Brigade had proven itself a force to be reckoned with, yet this guy had broken his puppet without so much as breaking a sweat. He was good._

_His opponent didn't reply, instead forming a quick hand sign to focus his chakra. Small black objects began to buzz out of the gourd on his back, and Sasori suddenly realised what he was dealing with._

_"I see, an Aburame," he grinned. The knowledge didn't help him much, but it was better than nothing. While he had found a solution for most of the weaknesses puppet masters face, the chakra-eating bugs of the Leaf Village's Aburame clan still posed a significant threat to him._

_"Well observed – my apologies for the lack of introduction," his opponent finally spoke. Apart from the gourd on his back and his spiky hair, all of his features were obscured by a balaclava and a pair of sunglasses. "My name is Shibi Aburame of the Leaf Village."_

_"And you may call me Sasori of the Red Sand," he replied. "Let's make this quick – I don't like to be kept waiting." The Aburame pulled a kunai of his own and held it out in a fighting stance._

_"What a coincidence," he replied smugly. "Neither do I."_

It was a rainy day in Konoha, but Sasori didn't mind. That was one of the many advantages of inhabiting a puppet body – the weather no longer concerned him. He let the rain harmlessly trickle off him as he strolled down the road.

Technically, he was on two missions. The first was to get inside the village and map out important things like the terrain, security and points of interest, as Pain had ordered him to. That part was going to be relatively easy.

The second part was a personal mission. Currently, the Leaf Village was one of the only shinobi settlements Sasori didn't have a sleeper agent in, and he intended to change that by the time he left. Technically the one-tailed jinchuuriki was Sasori and Deidara's target after he had finished here, but it paid to make future investments. You never knew when as a senior member of Akatsuki you might have to step in to save someone else's hide.

The four noble families of Konoha – Uchiha, Hyuga, Aburame and Akimichi – had the most political bearing in the village, as well as the strongest shinobi. If he could turn even one member from a single one of these clans to his side (Uchihas obviously excluded) then he would have a massive advantage on his next village.

Sasori stood outside of the Aburame compound, recalling his first encounter with the clan. Aburames were strange, cagey people; they would be far too difficult to try and persuade onto his side. With a sigh, he turned around and went to try and find the next noble residence...

Which was when he saw her again. Damn perfect eyes, damn perfect skin, damn perfect hair, damn perfect everything. This time she was by herself too, smiling as she happily walked along. Sasori cursed under his breath. What, did he get the puppet body's teen hormones as well or something?

Just ignore her, he said to himself. Just ignore her. But then the worst thing in his mind that could have possibly happened at that moment, happened. She walked over to him.

Shit.

"Um… are you here to see someone?" she asked shyly, in what seemed to be the cutest way possible. Sasori froze up, unsure of what to do. When was the last time he had spoken to a girl? Apart from Konan, who was normally just giving him orders anyway.

"Well, er, no, I was, just," he stammered, "on my, yeah, um… No. I'm not."

The girl looked disappointed, and Sasori cursed himself under his breath again. Should he have said something different? Why did he even care so much? If Deidara had have seen this, he would never have heard the end of it.

"Oh, well okay," she said, and then let an awkward silence hang in the air for a few moments. She looked as if she was about to say something else, but then stopped and walked into the Aburame compound instead.

"What the hell is my problem?" he mumbled under his breath to himself once she was out of earshot. He wanted to believe it was the puppet body's fault, but he knew. He had felt this before, back when he was still a Sand shinobi. The emotion known as infatuation.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

* * *

Sasori paced around his hotel room, the gears in his mind clunking away frantically. There was no point in denying it any more. Decades of solitude had worn away at him bit by bit, and finally it had all come gushing out – he had fallen for this girl, and fallen hard.

Thoughts flew around his head as he tried to decide what to do. Should he just ignore it and hope the feeling goes away? Or maybe he should take this opportunity while he was away from the Akatsuki to let off some steam?

He shook his head. A once-off wasn't really his style. That was more like something Deidara would do. Sasori could imagine the idiot, wearing a ridiculous grin as he stumbled back into the hideout after a night out.

"I've always said art is a bang, if you know what I mean… un!"

Sasori shuddered in distaste, both at his partner and at himself for being able to predict Deidara's crass, obvious jokes. It was utterly pathetic. Art was about making something beautiful that would last for all eternity. Given the choice between puppets and real people, Sasori would choose his fabricated companions every time.

But not in this girl's case. Sasori thought hard about her becoming old and senile. He imagined her face covered with wrinkles and moles, as he knew it would be one day. But still it wouldn't deter the romantic thoughts running through his head.

"Whatever…" he mumbled to himself, sitting down on the floor. It couldn't hurt to just go talk to her, could it? He was an elite shinobi; an S-ranked criminal. He had defeated the Third Kazekage on his own. After that, surely talking to girls couldn't be that hard.

He had made up his mind. He was going to go find her.

* * *

Easier said than done, Sasori thought to himself as he stood out on the street. How the hell did he think he was going to find one girl he knew nothing about in a whole village of people?

He had spent half an hour loitering suspiciously out the front of the Aburame compound in the hope of seeing her, and when that failed he started going from shop to shop in the street. He was pretty sure he'd covered three quarters of the place already, and there was still no sign of her.

Sasori sighed. This whole thing was pointless. He may as well just go back to his hotel room. He set off down the street in that direction, but that was when something caught his eye.

It was a boy, one who looked about the age of Sasori's vessel. He wore a leaf headband and a set of white, loose-fitting clothes. His hair was long, longer than most girls' hair he had seen, but that wasn't what made him remarkable. It was his eyes.

There was no doubt in Sasori's mind. They were the exact same eyes as the girl's. Was he related in some way to her? Maybe he could help him to find her.

But how exactly would he approach him? Sasori frowned. As sure as he was that this guy was in some way connected to her, there was a significant flaw in his plan. He couldn't exactly walk up to him and say hey, you have the same eyes as a cute girl I talked to for about ten seconds once – could you take me to her?

No. He couldn't be discouraged. A good puppet master used his head. Sasori walked up to the boy, clearing his throat to get his attention.

"Hey there, it's nice to finally meet you," he said, making up a character for himself on the spot. "My name's Sasori. I've heard a lot about you."

The boy looked at him blankly. "And who would that be from?" he asked politely. Sasori faked a puzzled look.

"What, she hasn't told me you about me?" he asked.

"She?" The boy's facial expressions didn't change. "Lady Hinata?"

"Who else?" Sasori asked rhetorically. Lucky – it looked like this boy had fallen for his bluff. "Speaking of which, do you know where she is right now? She wanted to talk to me about something."

"She should have finished her training by now; she's probably on her way back to the Hyuga compound… Sasori, was it?"

Sasori nodded. The Hyuga compound? Well that certainly was interesting – perhaps he did have a good reason to go after this girl.

"Thank you," Sasori smiled politely. "Hopefully we will meet again."

"Of course, you're welcome," the boy said, excusing himself. As he walked off along the road, Sasori's mind was already ticking over. If he played his cards right, he could fulfil his mission and get closer to this girl at the same time.

Sasori was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice the small swarm of bugs that were trailing him.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

* * *

Sasori held his hand out in front of him to knock on the compound entrance, bracing himself for what he was about to get himself into. 'Rusty' did not even begin to describe his social skills when it came to girls, yet here he was about to walk into the house of one he barely even knew.

He took a deep breath, despite his lack of dependence on oxygen. "I can do this," he whispered to himself. "I can do this!"

"Well I should hope so," a voice behind him said. "Knocking on a door isn't that difficult."

Sasori spun around, caught off-guard. A kid with large jacket and glasses stood with his hands in his pockets, and he recognised him as the Aburame who he had seen with Hinata.

"What do you want?" he asked, upset about having being disturbed. The Aburame stared straight at him, what was visible of his face completely devoid of emotion.

"I want to know what business a living puppet has in Konoha."

Sasori's eyes opened wide in alarm. How could he have been discovered already? He moved into a fighting stance, arms shoulder-width apart and firmly grounded. The boy made no move to counter his; instead, continued to stand with his hands in his pockets.

"It was quite easy to tell – my bugs picked up on the fact that you weren't real earlier today," the boy explained, reading Sasori's alarm. "I apologise for the breach of privacy, but I was suspicious – after all, you were standing out the front of my compound for approximately twenty-three minutes."

Sasori silently cursed himself. He should have known that someone would have picked up on his suspicious behaviour.

The boy paused for a moment, seemingly for effect, and then continued. "My condolences for your creator's death, by the way."

Creator's death? Sasori frowned. What the hell was he talking about? He slipped out of his fighting stance, deciding to let the boy finish talking to see what he did and didn't know.

"My father fought in the Third Great Shinobi war against a puppeteer with the same name as you," the Aburame continued. "It was said that his grandmother invented a jutsu that could bring an ordinary puppet to life, with the sacrifice of the jutsu user. I assume that you are the fruits of her labour?"

Sasori took a few seconds to wrap his head around what this boy was saying. He seriously thought he was a creation of Chiyo's? Then he wasn't exposed after all. For now, he would play along with the Aburame kid.

"I didn't come here to pick a fight – after all, the Sand and the Leaf are allies right?" he smiled at the boy. "In fact, I just came to visit a friend of mine. A girl by the name of Hinata Hyuga?"

"Hinata?" The boy sounded sceptical. "You would have thought she'd have told me if she was friends with a human puppet, wouldn't you?"

Sasori shrugged apologetically. The boy sighed.

"Then again, nobody ever tells me anything these days. It's like I'm invisible, even to my own friends." He turned and began to walk down the street.

"The name's Shino, by the way," he called out. "We may be seeing more of each other. Or maybe not."

Shino Aburame, Sasori thought to himself. Hopefully the answer is 'not'. He briefly wondered if maybe he was Shibi's son. He did say that his father had fought in the war against 'someone with his name'.

His name? Sasori had never given the boy his name.

Great, now I have a stalker to deal with, he thought. While his identity was safe for the most part, he didn't like this recent turn of events. The sooner he got out of Konoha, the better.

Which brought him back to his current objective. Swallowing his fears, he knocked on the front entrance of the compound. A servant noticed him and came over to the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes – is Hinata Hyuga at home?"

The servant nodded. "I will get Lady Hinata right away for you. Who should I say is here?"

Sasori pondered for a moment. "Don't," he decided. "Make it a surprise."

"As you wish," the servant bowed, and headed into the main house.

While he waited, Sasori straightened up his clothes and tried to pat his hair down into position. He wanted to make a good impression on the girl when she came out.

"A visitor?" he heard a voice from inside the house say, and instantly recognised it as the girl's. He felt his legs begin to go weak, but held his ground.

He was going to do this – for the sake of the Akatsuki, and for his own sake as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

* * *

The girl stared blankly at Sasori, tilting her head to one side slightly. There was a vague glint of recognition in her eyes, but she didn't seem to remember him. Sasori wasn't surprised – after all, they'd only met for a few seconds earlier that day.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely.

As much as he hated to do so, Sasori fell back on to what seemed to be his weapon of choice over these past couple of days – lying. His heart twinged with shame as he opened his mouth, but he continued anyway.

"That depends – are you Hinata Hyuga?"

"Yeah… I am." The girl dropped her line of sight to the ground below her, looking like a child about to be scolded.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything," Sasori said, sensing her apprehension. "I'm Sasori, and I'm your new coach."

Hinata looked at him, puzzled. "Coach?"

"Yeah – I'm a friend of Shino's," he explained, citing pretty much the only leaf ninja he knew. "He said he thought you could use some extra training, and over in Suna I'm pretty well known for my fitness regimes."

The girl seemed hesitant, and Sasori began to worry. Had he said something wrong? Maybe she was having trouble believing that Shino actually had a friend.

Just in case she decided to ask Shino about it, Sasori added, "Of course, I wasn't meant to tell you it was him who sent me. He's a bit of an awkward guy, if you haven't noticed." He smiled. "So we gotta keep this our little secret."

Hinata stood silently for a few seconds, looking as if she was trying to process all of the information she'd just received. Sasori waited with uncharacteristic patience, thankful to see she looked as nervous as he felt.

"Erm… would you like to come in, Sasori?" she asked, seemingly unsure of how to act. Sasori smiled, perhaps the first genuine grin he'd had in a while.

"Sure."

Hinata led him into the house, although 'house' was probably a bit of an understatement. The Hyuga residence was massive, even more so for him now that he was in this shorter body. Everything was maintained perfectly, down to the very last blade of grass.

They entered what seemed to be a living room and Sasori sat down, making himself comfortable. "Can I get you some tea?" Hinata asked him.

"No, I'm not a tea drinker," Sasori explained. As he didn't have any sort of digestive system he wasn't really an anything drinker, but he tactfully left that out. "You can if you want – don't let me get in your way."

Hinata appeared to contemplate this for a few seconds, before deciding against it and sitting down as well. "I've seen you somewhere before, right?" she asked, changing the conversation. "Near the Aburame compound."

"Oh, maybe you did," he said, feigning ignorance. "I went to visit Shino earlier on."

Hinata nodded, satisfied with his story. "So what's this 'exercise regime' you do?"

"Well, there's not really any one regime, just as no two people are the same. It's built around you and what you need to develop." Being in a fabricated body meant that Sasori never really had to worry about exercise, but the overall concept didn't seem that difficult.

"Oh. And how do you know what needs to develop?"

Sasori couldn't help but let his line of sight drop a little as she said this, sneaking what he hoped was an inconspicuous look at her chest. Well, he could see what definitely didn't need developing… He shook his head, expelling the thoughts of her body from his mind.

"Well, we do a short workout and I examine what you do well and what you could work on," he said. "Strengths and weaknesses, that sort of stuff."

Hinata nodded seriously, and Sasori felt the guilty twinge again. Here he was feeding her complete bullshit, and she was lapping it up. Sasori wasn't sure how it is you were meant to interact with cute girls, but he was pretty sure lying to them was not the right answer.

However, he'd come this far. The point of no return was a long way back. "So, uh, is there a training field around here where we could meet up tomorrow morning?" Hinata nodded again.

"I can take you there if you come to my place first," she said. "Is six too early?"

"No, six is fine," he smiled. "I look forward to working with you, Hinata Hyuga."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

* * *

Sasori was pleasantly surprised. In his line of work, this wasn't a feeling he experienced a lot. In fact, even surprise was quite alien to him. Most people and things were quite predictable after a while. But Hinata was different. Hinata was new. And most importantly, Hinata was here early.

He stopped for a moment to watch the girl doing her stretches on the field, threading her fingers together and reaching up as far as her arms would let her. It was clear she hadn't noticed him, so he called out across the training field. "You don't disappoint, do you Hyuga?"

Hinata turned around, startled by Sasori's sudden appearance. "What do you mean?"

"You told me six yesterday. It's four thirty."

The girl looked down at the ground, unsure of whether she was being praised or ridiculed. "Well, um, I didn't want to keep you waiting so to be sure, I came as soon as I woke up."

Sasori allowed himself a slight grin. "Well, let's not waste that eagerness. Ten laps of the field."

Hinata nodded dutifully and set off into a light jog. The field was a big, grassy expanse surrounded by trees, and the run would no doubt take some time. That gave Sasori time to plan. The reason he had come so early was to work out some sort of exercise plan before the girl arrived, but it appeared he no longer had that luxury.

Sasori himself didn't have a lot of taijutsu knowledge, but luckily the jutsus and some muscle memory of the shinobi whose body he inhabited still remained. He drew his hands together and formed some hand signs, relying on his body to remember what to do. Snake. Bird. Rabbit. Snake.

"Earth Style: Sentinel's Shield!" he yelled out, thrusting both of his hands out to the sides. The ground beneath him trembled and spat out two large shields made of stone, each of them easily three quarters of the size of Sasori's body. He caught them clumsily and rested the pointed bottoms on the ground, finding them a lot heftier than he expected.

Sasori examined his new weapons with slight disgust. Both shields were ridiculously large, ridiculously heavy and completely impractical. If the weapon had have at least been something small like knives he could have manipulated them with his chakra threads, but that seemed unlikely to work with these weapons.

Hinata had stopped to look at the shields as well. "Wow, you must be really skilled to handle weapons that big," she complimented him shyly. He sighed.

"We'll spar to begin," he explained, keeping his cool. "Come at me when you're ready."

Hinata nodded again, shifting back into her determined mode. Sasori could tell she was still unsure of herself, but she was at least putting it aside to focus on the issue at hand. She took a deep breath and slid into her fighting position, her arms spread out and her body grounded.

She swung the first blow; a jab with her right hand. Sasori lifted one shield up with a grunt, putting it between the two of them. The shield made it hard to see what the girl was doing, and before he knew it another blow was being delivered from the side. He moved his other shield to block her attack, awkwardly fighting against the momentum the object carried with it.

Well, at least his identity as an S-class shinobi would be safe with a pathetic display like this.

The girl kept throwing attacks, and Sasori kept blocking them. Hinata moved fluidly, whereas he had all the grace of an elephant. At this rate, he had no chance to go on the offensive at all. Reluctantly, Sasori decided to let muscle memory prevail over his own mind. He relaxed his control, giving the body a fair amount of independence.

Impulsively, he dug one shield into the ground and swung his whole body around, bringing his other shield careening into Hinata's side. She put up her arms to block, but the force of the stone shield send her skidding sideways. Of course! He had to use momentum if he was going to win this fight.

With a new energy, he brought his left shield up and swung it similarly to his other shield. The girl moved out of the way, but received a bump to the shoulder. His right shield came around in a backhanded attack, narrowly missing her yet again. He swung and swung, calculating each one intently.

Hinata was running out of breath, and Sasori could see his chance. He toppled over the shield in front of him, bringing the other one down like a hammer a full 180 degrees. There was little chance of the girl escaping – she was done for.

Wait.

The girl wasn't going to escape. He was going to kill Hinata.

Sasori panicked, coming back to his senses. After years of living life as a dangerous criminal, he'd slipped back into his bloodthirsty ways. He couldn't let it end like this. Killing this girl would have the ANBU all over him, whether they knew his true identity or not. And of all people to kill, Hinata…

Sasori looked at the girl, and could see the sheer terror in his eyes. There was no way either of them had the physical strength to stop this blow before contact. Cursing under his breath, he sent out chakra threads from his fingers and attached them to the shield. He hadn't wanted to reveal that he was a puppet master this early, but it seemed he had no choice.

With an almighty yank, he pulled the shield to the left. Maybe he didn't have the physical strength, but his chakra control was a different matter. Seeing what he was doing, Hinata dived to the right to avoid the shield. The stone weapon barely missed her, crashing into the ground with a deadly thud. Sasori hit the ground less than elegantly himself, landing on his back.

"Sasori! Are you alright?" Hinata cried out, running to his side. Sasori smiled weakly, feigning injury. In truth, he hadn't felt a thing. Actually, no – he felt relief. Relief that Hinata was okay. He sat up and dusted himself off.

"That will do for today, I think."


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone, I apologise for the long wait but I am back and this story WILL be finished. A big thank you to all the reviewers who asked me to keep going, especially to FA-M-BI for reviewing every single chapter of this story :)

* * *

"Two hundred and ninety-nine, three hundred!"

Hinata almost grunted the last number, striking out at the training dummy with all the power she had left. Watching the amount of effort she put into the strike, Sasori half expected the dummy to fall over or break in two. But the wooden figure stood strong, and Hinata dropped to her knees in exhaustion.

It wasn't surprising – this was the end of the workout, and Hinata had been run rugged this morning. Sasori was honestly surprised she even got into the triple digits, let alone to get as far as she did. Every day he could see her getting stronger. As a coach, he was succeeding. Not that he actually was a coach, but that still stayed a secret.

Sasori walked over to the girl and got down on one knee. He took a flask filled with water from his belt and handed it to her. "You did well today," he complimented her. Hinata took the flask silently, still exhausted, and held it to her lips. She took a big drink of water and passed the container back.

"Just give me a second to recover," she panted, leaning up against the training dummy. Her skin was dripping with sweat, and she unzipped her jacket to give herself some air. Sasori sat down next to her, awkwardly shifting his eyes around to avoid staring at her chest. Under her conservative jacket was a nice figure, and the tight-fitting clothes she wore underneath suited her well.

"Hey Sasori, can I ask you something?" Hinata said, her eyes almost closed from exhaustion. He shrugged, despite knowing she probably couldn't see him.

"About the training?" he asked. Hinata lazily shook her head and looked over at him. Their eyes met for a long moment, and if Sasori actually had any blood he probably would have blushed.

"About you."

Sasori went silent. He wasn't sure what to say. After a few second, Hinata spoke again.

"When we first sparred a couple of weeks ago, you used threads made from chakra to stop your shield from hitting me," she reminisced. "I knew another ninja who could do the same thing; a ninja who saved one of my teammates. He was from the sand village as well."

Well I guess there's no point trying to keep the puppets secret still, Sasori thought to himself. He would have preferred for as few people in the Leaf as possible to know he was a puppet master, just in case somebody was smart enough to put two and two together. But for some reason he didn't mind. No, not just some reason. The reason was that it was Hinata.

"I'll admit, I play around with ninja puppets occasionally," he admitted, in the greatest understatement to have come out of his mouth since he arrived in Konoha. "So you get on with puppet masters then?"

She thought about this for a moment. "I never really spoke to him, but as I said, he did save my friend. And if you're a puppet master too, then I guess I do like puppet masters."

Sasori smiled at this. "Puppets are beautiful things," he explained to her, in a spiel of his that was often wasted on Deidara's uncultured ears. "I think the best things in life are those that last forever, for generations upon generations to see."

"I think so too," Hinata said happily. "So Sasori, does that mean you want people to remember you forever?"

"Of course!" It wasn't even a question to him. "Doesn't everyone want to be remembered for doing something amazing?"

Sasori could barely contain himself. This girl was amazing. Not only was she sweet, determined and incredibly attractive, but she agreed with his views on art as well? Sasori wished he could throw away his disguise, so that he could show her his amazing collection of puppets he'd created over the years. She would be the first one other than him to appreciate them for the wonders they are.

And maybe, just maybe, she'd want to become a puppet just like him. The two of them could live together forever, literally.

But perhaps that was getting a bit ahead of himself. He stopped to listen to what Hinata had to say.

"When you put it that way, I suppose you're right," she smiled. She looked thoughtfully off into the distance. "That's why Naruto wants to become the Hokage so much."

Sasori frowned. "Naruto? Who's that?"

Hinata blushed a little. "Oh right, you've never met him. Since we're friends, I guess I can tell you – he's the guy that I'm in love with."


End file.
